The present disclosure relates to a closure for a beverage container and particularly to a closure configured to close an open mouth formed in a threaded neck of a beverage container. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a “snap-on, screw-off” closure for the neck of a beverage container.
Milk, juice, and other beverages are dispensed into jugs or containers at a bottling plant. A closure is then mounted on the container neck to close a liquid inlet/outlet opening formed in the container neck. Closures are sized and shaped to mate with container necks to minimize leakage of liquid from a closed container during shipment of filled containers from a bottling plant to a wholesale or retail store.
Some beverage containers, such as one gallon milk or orange juice jugs, are extrusion blow-molded using a polyethylene plastics material. Other beverage containers of the type used to store “sport” drinks are stretch blow-molded using a PET plastics material. In most cases, external threads are formed on the open-mouth necks of these containers to mate with a container closure formed to include mating internal threads.
Container closures are usually made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and configured to be snapped onto the neck using a capping machine at the bottling plant and screwed on and off the neck by a consumer at home or elsewhere. Such “snap-on, screw-off” style closures often include many fine interior threads with many separate thread leads to enable a bottler to close the open mouth formed in the container neck by applying downward pressure on the closure to “snap” it into place on the neck of a filled container. Nevertheless, a consumer is able to twist and unscrew the threaded closure to remove it from the threaded neck of the container to access the liquid in the container.
In accordance with the present disclosure, a beverage container closure comprises a cap adapted to be coupled to an open-mouth neck of a beverage container and a monolithic cap liner coupled to an interior surface of the cap. The cap liner includes concentric seal rings adapted to engage an annular rim provided on the beverage container neck to establish a sealed connection with the annular rim once the cap is installed on the container neck to close the open mouth formed in the container neck. At least one of the seal rings is splayed relative to the annular rim during installation of the cap on the container neck to form a seal between the cap and the beverage container.
Additional features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.